The spotlight is on Dr. Karthik Srinivasan, Assistant Professor, University of Kansas School of Business, United States.

The University of Kansas (KU), with a main campus overlooking the historic city of Lawrence, is a public research university that was opened in 1866. Today it has over 31,000 students enrolled across five campuses and offers more than 345 degree programs across 15 schools. It is a member of the Association of American Universities (AAU), an elite group of 71 top-tier research institutions in the United States and Canada.

The KU School of Business, founded in 1924, has more than 130 faculty members and approximately 4,600 students, as of fall 2025. The school and its accounting program hold accreditation from the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB), and its online MBA is ranked eighth in the U.S.

Dr. Karthik Srinivasan is an Assistant Professor in the Analytics, Information and Operations (AIO) academic area of the School of Business, teaching enterprise data management and artificial intelligence (AI) courses for undergraduate and graduate students.

He holds a Ph.D. in Management Information Systems from the University of Arizona, a top-ranked program globally for information systems. Prior to his doctoral studies, he completed a Master of Management in Business Analytics and a Bachelor of Engineering in Electrical and Telecommunication. Before transitioning into academia, he spent time in the industry as a software developer and data scientist. His scholarship is featured in the field's most selective journals, complemented by multiple institutional awards recognizing his impact as both a researcher and an educator.

Oracle Academy: Which Oracle Academy resources do you use?

Karthik Srinivasan: I use the Oracle Academy Cloud Program for teaching databases and cloud infrastructure to students enrolled in Business and Enterprise Data Management courses at undergraduate and graduate levels. Database classes are mandatory, as anyone entering business today must understand what data is all about. The ability to manage, ingest, query and analyze data equips students to be more informed decision-makers.

I have three classes of roughly 40 students each, all of which have Oracle Cloud accounts. For undergraduates, I teach the foundational elements of SQL and databases. For the master’s course I go into Big Data, Hadoop, vector databases and other areas. Naturally, I also expose students to other technologies and skills, because you cannot know what tools are used by the companies they will join. The idea is to make sure they are eminently adaptable when entering the workforce. Oracle Academy definitely gives them a competitive edge.

Oracle Academy: How long has the University of Kansas been using Oracle Academy resources?

Karthik Srinivasan: Recognizing the need for industry-standard tools, Chris Claterbos leveraged his role as founding director of the Business Analytics program to secure KU’s membership in Oracle Academy in 2016. The ability to report data out of a database is considered critical for businesses. Our focus is still on equipping students for the world of data-driven decision-making. Currently there are four of us in the School of Business using Oracle Academy resources in different departments such as accounting, marketing and supply chain management.

All of the instructors share a knowledge base, and I personally strongly recommend the Oracle Academy Cloud Program to any faculty member needing to add data management to their business courses.

Oracle Academy: How are you using Oracle Cloud?

Karthik Srinivasan: It is a key technology for completing database implementation assignments and exams in my courses. Every student is expected to create and manage the Oracle Autonomous Database in Oracle Cloud towards completing SQL and DB design exercises. But there’s another important aspect directly related to data management: Oracle Cloud turns each student into a database administrator. They start their own server instances, can add users to their database, and get to enjoy control and responsibility. This instills a deeper appreciation of the nature of databases.

Traditionally, in database courses, students are added as users; they are given a login and password, all they have to do is write some SQL, from the perspective of a developer. But what goes behind the database? Oracle Cloud gives them insight into things they might have been oblivious to: resource allocation, latency, data sizing, load balancing, performance tuning. All of this contributes to generating quality data fast and efficiently for use in enterprise grade analytics.

Oracle Academy: Fascinating insight into an auxiliary benefit of Oracle Cloud. Where do you stand in terms of AI?

Karthik Srinivasan: I am currently teaching an AI course for business this spring and have spent the best part of a year preparing materials for it. During my course preparation, I realized that Vector databases are a central component of retrieval augmented generation (RAG), a framework that enhances Large Language Model (LLM) outputs by providing it with custom knowledge. Combining enterprise data management skills with generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) concepts, bolstered with the infrastructure support of Oracle Cloud, can uniquely equip KU students to handle modern complex business problems.

Oracle has many tools, including Oracle AI Database 26ai. The generative AI prompting using SQL is an excellent initiative by Oracle that can integrate traditional database querying with modern prompt-based information retrieval.

AI started as plain conversational text and later added images and videos. But it struggles with raw tables and needs to figure out how to read tabular numbers. Oracle Cloud, with AI DB 26ai, has strong integration with vector data as well as graph and spatial data. I am hoping to incorporate use cases from Oracle Academy for seamlessly transitioning from SQL into complex concepts like vector databases. Further, integrating database design principles with GenAI can help students to better navigate modern data environments. This synergy doesn't just prepare them for change, it may give them a distinct tactical advantage in a competitive job market.

Oracle Academy: And Oracle professional certifications will help them too…

Karthik Srinivasan: That’s something I am encouraging. I passed the Oracle Certified Associate Developer exam in 2008 and that was helpful for my career. Now I try to incorporate all the things necessary for OCA exams into my coursework. And I’ve a plan to even waive the final year exam in favor of certification. I’m promoting the idea that if a student successfully passes OCA certification, then they will have learned everything that I would have quizzed them on in the final year exam. At the end of the day, it’s all about learning and moving into the world of work.

Oracle Academy: How is the job market for business school graduates?

Karthik Srinivasan: It’s a tough job market right now, because of this weird conjecture that AI can replace entry-level business analysts. SQL by itself will not get you a job because machines can write code, can automate a program tester, or SQL programmer. That’s why it’s essential for our students to combine analytics skills with GenAI and domain knowledge, such as cybersecurity or supply chain. The market calls for people with decision-making power, who get the job done; and for that you need skills and tools like Oracle Cloud.

Oracle Academy: Great. You are also quite involved in research…

Karthik Srinivasan: That’s correct. Over 50% of my time is spent on research in the fields of generative AI impact, crowdfunding, cybersecurity, and interpretable machine learning. I publish frequently in journals devoted to information systems and analytics. In addition, I advise doctoral students in the AIO area.

Oracle Academy: You are also mentor for the business school’s Analytics and Information Systems Student Club. What does that involve?

Karthik Srinivasan: It’s a varied role, going from helping organize speakers, arranging meetups, or facilitating case competitions. My job is also to make sure the machinery is well-oiled, that student leadership voting is unbiased, that everyone gets equal opportunity, resolving issues, approving expenses. It does not take up a lot of time, but it puts me in close contact with the students and their needs, and that’s important.

Oracle Academy: Thank you. And what are your interests outside of academia?

Karthik Srinivasan: Before I get to that question, let me share some trivia. Kansas is big in basketball and American football. Did you know that basketball took off as a sport here at KU in the late 19th century? James Naismith invented the idea in a YMCA gym to keep students active during cold winters. Later he joined KU as athletics director and started the Kansas Jayhawks, our university team.

I enjoy watching games every once a while. I also enjoy playing pickleball, racquetball, badminton, and ping-pong. I consider myself an experienced novice in each of these sports.

Otherwise, I play percussion instruments, mainly finger drums. The local ethnic community know me for playing mridangam and Indian classical vocals. And then there is my family, which keeps me sane.

Thank you, Karthik Srinivasan, for your passion for Oracle Academy and for preparing your students to make a positive impact.